Scottish and Northern Irish airports shut over ash risk
Passengers in Belfast City Airport face a frustrating wait
Airports in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland closed from 0700 BST because of risks from volcanic ash, the Civil Aviation Authority has said.
Glasgow, Prestwick and Derry are likely to be closed all day, while there are plans to shut Inverness in the morning only, and Belfast in the afternoon.
The CAA advised air passengers to check with airports before travelling and warned the situation was changeable.
Last month, volcanic ash clouds from Iceland grounded flights for six days.
The situation in the skies has been changing hour by hour, meaning the picture for air travellers is unclear.
Dublin Airport will also close from 1100 BST until further notice.
Forecasts show the 60 nautical mile buffer zone imposed around high concentrations of ash is close to some northern airports.
AIRPORT CLOSURES
Glasgow 0700-1900
Prestwick 0700-1900
Inverness 0700-1300
Stornoway 0700-1900
Benbecula 0700-1900
Tiree 0700-1900
Islay 0700-1900
Barra 0700-1900
Campbeltown 0700-1900
Derry 0700-1900
Belfast International 1300-1900
Belfast City 1300-1900
Dublin 1100-onwards
All times in BST. Source: CAA at 0200 BST
However, the latest advice issued by the CAA at 0200 BST said airports in Edinburgh and north-west England could safely stay open on Wednesday, despite the proximity of the ash.
Earlier forecasts also suggested higher ash levels were drifting southwards, but the CAA says the South East of England is unlikely to be affected on Wednesday.
In a statement, the CAA said: "The situation remains changeable, so passengers expecting to travel from airports in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North of England and north Wales should contact their airlines to check whether their flight is operating."
At just after 0700 BST, Andrew Haines, chief executive of the CAA, told the BBC the risk of closures in much of the UK was likely to recede during the day.
He said: "The weather fronts overnight suggest the wind pattern will be more due northerly, and that will mean that while southern Ireland may still continue to be affected and maybe Northern Ireland, in mainland UK the risk should be receding."
Some flights out of the Irish Republic are facing disruption, the Irish Aviation Authority said.
'Single sky'
On Tuesday, flights in and out of the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and Scotland's Hebrides were suspended at the first sign of an increase of volcanic ash levels in the skies.
Flights over Europe were banned last month because of fears of the effect of volcanic ash on plane engines.
The decision to lift the restrictions followed safety tests that showed the engines could cope in areas of low-density ash.
The fresh disruption on Tuesday came as European Union transport ministers met in Brussels to agree measures they hoped would help prevent further disruption to air travel as a result of volcanic ash.
The steps include speeding up current plans to integrate Europe's airspace, creating a "single European regulator for a single European sky".
The meeting came after criticism from the airline industry that governments took an over-cautious approach to the ash cloud crisis last month, grounding flights unnecessarily.
